Draft-gear.



P. IVI. BEARD.

DRAFT GEAR.

APPLICATION FILED IuLY 22, I9I4.

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enr :a ornro PAUL M. BEARD, 0F ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, ASSIG-NGR TO AMERICAN CAR AND FOU'NDRY COIVIPANY, 0F ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, A CORPORATION 0F NEW JERSEY.

DRAFT- GEAR.

Specication of Letters Patent.

Patented May 2a, 1ere.

To all 'whom t may concern Be it known that I, PAUL M. BEARD, a citizen of the United States, residing at the city of St. Louis, State of Missouri, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Draft-Gear, of which the following is a full, clear, and enact description, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains tov make and use the same, reference being 'had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure l is a top View partly in section of a tandem draftI gear embodying my improvement. Fig. 2`is a diagrammatic top View illustrating the operation of my improved gear. Fig. 3 is a horizontal sectional view of the thimble constituting an essential feature of my invention.

This invention relates to certain features of a tandem spring draft gear for railway cars, and has for its main purpose the provision of a construction which will permit the'necessary lateral movement of the draw head without causing any distortionof thev draft springs or any displacement vof the follower blocks.

Other purposes of my invention will be obvious or hereinafter pointed out.

As illustrated in the drawings, it will'be understood that l indicates the draft sills forming a portionr of the car underframe structure. l

2 illustrates the cheek plates having the draft lugs 4. v

5 is a draw bar having draw bar eXtension 6 which carries the yoke '2' embracing the followers 8 and 8 and the draft springs 9. -The thimble 10- is secured between the upper and lower legs of the yoke, and has contact, front and back, with -the inner followers 8. The construction is such as to admit of a limited lateral swing of the draw bar 5, toaccommodate movement in round' ing curves, and'it will be seen that the effect of .such lateral movement of the draw bar will be to swing the yoke laterally rela-- tive to the cheek plates andthe followers.

The thimble 10 forms the pivot upon which the yoke swingsthe yoke being fulcrumed by means of the thimble 10 upon one or the other of the inner followers 8',

depending upon whether the draw bar is under a, pul ing or a hailing stress.

In the use of various forms of thimbles of the thimble.

followers are displaced in one fashion or an'v other, and unnecessary compression put upon the draft springs, with the result that the latter are distorted, and upon the straightening out vof the draw bar, will spring back into place with a recoil causing an undesirable vibration.

It is the purpose of my invention to obviate entirely the displacement of the followers by the pivotal or swinging movement To this end, I make the thimble of general octagonal form having the diagonally opposite faces A and B parallel to each other, said faces where adjacent converging at the apices X. These apices X form the normal bearing points of the thimble upon the followers 8, and it will be seen that they are farther apart than are the parallel faces A on alright line and the parallel faces B on a right line. The

`of movement of the Ydraw bar, at the limit of which movement, either a face A or a face B will lie flat on its coperating follower.

With this. arrangement, it will be seen that upon the lateral movement of the draw bar, either the faces A or the faces B will be brought more nearly into contact with the followers. However, by virtue of the fact that the distance between the apices X is greater than the right line distance between theparallel faces A or the parallel faces B, there will be no increase in distance between the bearing points of the thimble on the followers longitudinally of the draft gear, and consequently, there will be no displacement of the followers by the thimble.. On

the contrary, by virtue of the fact that the perpendicular distance between face A or face B is less than the distance between the apices X, there will actually be a decrease in distance between -the possible #bearing points 0f the thimble on the followers. As a result, there will be no unnatural compression of the draft springs, and hence no irregular vibration upon the centering of the draw bar. The actual center upon which the thimble rotates during the lateral movement of the drawlbar, of course varies according to the amount of friction between its bearing'points and the followers, as it will swing upon the point having the most friction, andrthe side having the lesser friction will move laterally on its coperating follower.

It may be desirable to form the'sides of the thimble having coperation with the center stops 11 in a similar fashion, as ,illustrated, whereby to provide for the necessary lateral swing and to give a stopping eect when the thimble has reached the limit of its rotation. r v

I am aware that the invention may be embodied in formstheruthan that illustrated, and therefore, I do not desireit to be limited to that specific-form, but intend it to include all obvious changes and modifications properly withinit's spirit and scope.

What I claim is:

1. A draft gear comprising a laterally movable draw bar, a yoke member movable thereby, draft springs, followers coperating wit-hnsaid'draft springs, and a thimble member movable by said yoke and adapted to cooperate with said followers, said thimble having normal bearing points `adapted to coperate with said followers, and bearing faces adapted to coperate with said followers when said yoke is swung laterally, the perpendicular distance between said bearing faces being less than the distance between said bearing points.

2. In a draft gear, followers, a movable' springs,

-thimble having bearing portions adapted to coperate with opposite followers, the bearing portions having the greatest Aseparation longitudinally of the draft gear being those adapted to coperate with the followers when the thimble is in its normal position ljacent follower.

4. A draft gear mechanism comprising a laterally movable draw bar, draft springs, followers cooperating with said draft follower stops ,for limiting the movement of said followers, a yoke, and a thimble secured to said yoke, the follower engaging face of said thimble being formed bythe intersection of two substantially fiat surfaces that meet'on the vertical center plane of the thi'mble.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature inthe presence of two witnesses, this 20th day of July, 1914.

PAUL M.'BEARD.

.Witnesses:

OSCAR HooHBERG, JAMES J. COOPER. 

